I really enjoyed the use of the Darkwood and the witches imagery and lore that permeates throughout the entire story. Whilst these aspects can feel creepy and cause a lot of tension, I would say it’s very much fantasy over straight up horror which I found some people saying The Year of the Witching was. A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut. there are a lot of good things about this - the relevant themes, the relatable characters, and the easy-going writing. i like how this is set in a very distant and dated world, but so much of the story applies to reality. i love immanuelle as a character and i appreciate that she had a determined strength to her, but is also kind and thoughtful. i feel like i dont see enough of this combination in books. i also like her interactions with ezra and enjoy their narrative.

Fascinated by and fearful of the secrets the diary reveals, Immanuelle begins to understand why her mother once consorted with witches. And as the truth about the Prophets, the Church and their history is revealed, so Immanuelle understands what must be done. For the real threat to Bethel is its own darkness. if you can look past the convenient plot, meager worldbuilding, and the thematic mess that is the ending, you might still get a creepy autumn read out of it because the prose is great. otherwise, it’s a no from me. Growing up in the town of Bethel, where the Prophet rules, Immanuelle tries to follow the father, she tries to worship, be devoted, submissive and conform as all the women of the village do. Until one day, fate brings her into the Darkwood, a forbidden place where the spirits of dead witches live, witches who give her a journal that once belonged to her Mother.... There may be those among us who are distant from the faith of our ancestors, numb to the Father's touch and deaf to His voice. On their behalves, I pray for His mercy. I ask that they find solace not in the Mother's darkness but in the light of the Father."My rating is purely selfish (driven by my love for Ezra 🙈). The last 30% was nail bitingly intense. The fate of our characters hanged in the balance. I was ready to raise hell and make sure the rating would suffer just as much if anything were to happen to him.

This is a fantasy that’s different than most others I’ve read in the genre. It’s definitely an adult fantasy, so keep that in mind when making comparisons, but I feel like it still had a differing tone. Much of the plot moves like historical fiction, likely based on a specific historical time period (I am bad at identifying stuff like this), even though this world is an invented one. The inhabitants of Bethel are terrified of all things magical and actively shun it. So the only time that Immanuelle is able to access magic is primarily when she ventures outside of her community. As a result, I think many of the non-magic portions of the book felt slower comparatively, which led to an uneven pacing at times. A thrillingly brisk and bracing tale of magic and power, I loved this book. It takes the best tropes of horror and witchcraft and gives them a refreshingly feminist twist.”– S.A. Chakraborty, National bestselling author of The Daevabad Trilogy Overall though, I did really enjoy this. It's a powerful story with some interesting themes explored. Immanuelle was a sympathetic main character; easy to get behind. It won't be the same," said Immanuelle, with a petulant edge to her voice that made her hate herself. This book is not a fast paced book (hence the small deduction in rating). I also hoped that the ending would give me more “silent Hill” (the movie) than the ending that actually happened, but it was still good. This was slow-paced but alluring with its dark themes.Yet both of these things are true, and because of that, The Year of the Witching often feels like lightning in a bottle. It has an energy that draws the reader in and casts a spell over us and keeps us on the edge of our seat as each new plague falls upon Bethel. Coming from the mind of Christian Ward (Aquaman: Andromeda) is a new storyline for horror and Batman fans alike. He describes the series as his love letter to Arkham Asylum: Serious House on a Serious Earth. He then went on to say that this is a tribute to the classic comics titled Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Batman: Gothic by Grant Morrison. Comic Covers for Batman: City of Madness i thought that was one of the more poignant parts of the novel, even if it does show up as an in-depth exploration rather late (about halfway through the story).

Leah laughed, a loud, pretty sound that drew gazes. She had a way of doing that. "And what if a man offers his hand?" immanuelle moore is a sixteen-year-old biracial girl who lives in bethel, where the religious teachings of the holy father rule the day. the leader of their farming community is a figure called the prophet, whose power extends to burning witches at the stake, upholding an inquisition-like prison system, and marrying as many women as he can. these women get marked as property with a carving of a star on their forehead once they’re wed. i feel like this is one of those books where you either really love it or it just isnt for you. and being that my fatal flaw is indecisiveness, im right down this middle with this one.The Year of the Witching follows a patriarchal and religious society, where our main character is put in situations where she starts to overthrow it and change perceptions. There’s a bit of a mystery to unravel about exactly who the antagonist is and what they’re doing which is so wrong, and it kept me intrigued to find out more. So this is all great, absolutely! The problem is that the more I think about how Henderson tried to make these points and how often they got muddied by her own text I’m left feeling that this book could have been executed much more successfully. One of my biggest problems is that I’m always going to doubt the feminist merits of a book that largely revolves around a luekwarm protagonist’s romance with a dude who makes most of the plot happen to the vast detriment of her relationships with other women in the story. I’ll break it down for you: While doing so, we are exposed to the many injustices against women and just how corrupted the Prophet and his league of apostles are. There are themes of race, gender, poverty, complex family dynamics, witchcraft, and religion blended into the story. Sometimes I wonder if my secrets are better swallowed than spoken. Perhaps my truths have done enough harm. Perhaps I should take my memories to the grave and let the dead judge my sins." the gothic horror descriptions are definitely my favorite thing about the reading experience. the darkwood where the witches live comes to life in a deeply unsettling, intangible way, and the stained glass and heavy wood cathedrals almost loom over our characters like the oppressive regime that they represent.

The initial build-up was strong and captivating. I liked meeting Immanuelle and learning a bit about her family history and the beliefs/traditions of Bethel.I'm feeling all kinds of ways about this book. I'm just gonna high light the stuff I liked and hated. You can go read the blurb or another review if you want to know more of what the actual book is about. The anthology will also contain a sequel to King’s 1981 novel “Cujo,” about a rabid Saint Bernard that wreaks havoc on a young mother and her child trapped inside a Ford Pinto. Called “Rattlesnakes,” you can read an excerpt from that story on Ew.com. this is a man who has forced himself on ten to twelve year old girls, including immanuelle’s best friend leah. someone who beats women daily and carves symbols into their foreheads. who has tried to execute his own son and immanuelle (and tortured them both), wanted to take immanuelle’s mother for a wife and rape her, and murdered her lover by having him burnt at the stake. Fascinated by the secrets in the diary, Immanuelle finds herself struggling to understand how her mother could have consorted with the witches. But when she begins to learn grim truths about the Church and its history, she realizes the true threat to Bethel is its own darkness. And she starts to understand that if Bethel is to change, it must begin with her.